A Number of People Don't Mind New Area Code

By BONNIE HAYES

Dec. 28, 1996 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

While the rest of Orange County bemoans a plan that would change the boundaries of a 45-year-old area code, thousands of other county residents who have already endured at least one prefix change are wondering what the whining is all about.

“Everybody’s crying about changing, and I don’t understand it,” said Lou Schonder, whose Brea home happens to fall in a pocket of the city that has a different area code from neighbors two blocks away. His code changed from 213 to 310 six years ago, while most of the rest of the city remained 714.

“This will be our third area code, and you don’t hear me fussing,” added Schonder, a retired real estate agent.

Officials announced this week that Orange County is expected to run out of 714 numbers in less than two years, prompting the state Public Utilities Commission to consider a plan that would split the county into two area codes. In addition, the northernmost part of the county would get yet a third new area code. The switch could occur by October.

Rates and prices of telephone calls would not be affected under the plan, but customers would be required to dial 11 digits in some cases.

The proposal is the result of a 60% increase in telephone service over the last year, mainly for cellular phones, pagers, modems and fax machines, officials said Friday.

“We have about 7.9 million numbers available in an area code,” said Bruce Bennett, the California Area Code Relief coordinator local telephone companies. “Orange County is using about 5 million of the 714 [numbers] now. We’re not far away from exhausting it.”

If approved next month, the plan would change the current 310 area code to 562 in La Habra, Seal Beach, Los Alamitos and parts of Brea and La Palma, while South County residents would pick up a new 949 code. Most North County cities would keep the 714 area code, but the cities of Costa Mesa and Irvine would be divided between 714 and 949. Slivers of Santa Ana and Tustin also would share the two codes.

Some residents in the county’s northernmost cities seem tickled by the proposal, saying they’ve resented being in a “segregated area code” in Orange County for so long.

“We’ve had a different area code from the rest of you folks forever,” said Mike Hogan, a 36-year-old La Habra mechanic. “It’s like, remember us? We’re Orange County too, you know. But you just kept rolling around in your own 714 glory.”

Said Los Alamitos resident Wanda Glenn: “It’s about time the rest of Orange County started feeling the pinch of progress. So you dial a few more numbers, big deal. It hasn’t killed us yet.”

A common concern among new area code users is what they will be charged to call neighbors in a different code. Most customers wrongly believe that dialing a 1 and the area code and number automatically translates into long-distance billing, Bennett said.

“If it’s a local call today, it’ll be a local call tomorrow,” Bennett said. “The area code has nothing to do with charges, but the distance you are calling does.”

California will double its current number of area codes from 13 to 26 over the next five years, Bennett said. By 1998, Los Angeles’ famous 213 area code will cover only nine square miles, the smallest in the state.

And the proposed change for Orange County is only the first of several, officials said. Customers who keep the 714 area code after this split may be faced with a new one within five years. That’s when Bennett predicts the available numbers will be exhausted again. The new 949 numbers in south Orange County, however, would have a life span of at least 18 years.

“It’s growth,” Bennett said. “What else can we say?”

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Breaking the Code

Here’s how the new telephone area codes will look after new numbers come on line:

City / Number

Anaheim: 714

Brea: 714 and 562

Buena Park: 714

Costa Mesa: 714 and 949

Cypress: 714

Dana Point: 949

Fountain Valley: 714